This means the vast majority of broccoli must be trucked to the
East Coast, where it lands on grocery store shelves about one
week after it leaves the farm.

Even with the best handling practices (very careful measures are taken to make sure
broccoli is stored at the right temperature and doesn't arrive
bruised or discolored), you end up losing some of the vegetable's
fresh quality over its five- to six-day journey across the
country. Shipping is expensive too, not to mention the strain
that exhaust from the transportation puts on the environment.

That's why a
team of agricultural scientists, led by Björkman, was tasked in
2010 with breeding a heat-tolerant broccoli that can survive in
different growing conditions in the East, from northern
Florida to Maine.

The Eastern Broccoli Project, supported by a $3.2
million grant from the Department of Agriculture and another $1.7
million from commercial partners, is now three years into a
five-year mission. By 2020, the group plans to have established
an eastern broccoli industry worth $100 million. Each growing
area will have a different peak-production season throughout the
year, but collectively be able to provide a steady supply of
broccoli, says Björkman.

Recent work from scientists at growing sites in Maine, New York,
Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina are making this
vision possible, in addition to Björkman's previous research.

In 1998, the Cornell professor and his colleague Karen J. Pearson
pinpointed the stage of development when broccoli was most
sensitive to high temperatures. The finding, described in a
paper published in the Journal of
Experimental of Botany, provided the "basis for a technique that
plant breeders can use to screen for heat tolerance."

"It had been unproductive to just select the broccoli that looked
good," explains Björkman. Most broccoli still appeared healthy
because they had not yet experienced the stress, or heat, that
prevents the plant from making a flower. To create new, more
resilient broccoli varieties, breeders start by selecting plants,
or parents, that show a strong resistance to "ugly head" defects
even when grown under heat strain.

These plants are then cross-bred in a greenhouse and the
offspring is crossed again until scientists create a broccoli
variety that brings together all the traits needed to grow in the
Eastern region.

Many hundreds of crosses have been tried over the last several
years, but only five varieties of eastern-grown broccoli have
made it to market so far. In the process of adapting broccoli for
Eastern growers, breeders are also looking at ways to improve
broccoli's taste, color, resistance to disease, and nutritional
value. The stage has been set for creating the world's best and
freshest broccoli.

The project's creators hope that building a regional network for
broccoli could lay the framework for other specialty crops, too,
and boost the local food movement.

The biggest remaining hurdle is setting up a way to
distribute the seeds to the farmers who need them and then
getting consumers to accept the eastern
varieties. "Our goal is to have
Eastern consumers eat more broccoli," said Björkman.

For that to
happen, the project has joined with three major seed companies,
including the controversial agriculture giant Monsanto. For those
concerned about the consolidation of control of fruits and
vegetables, Björkman points out that seed companies are the
quickest way to get seeds into the hands of growers. Eastern
growers will still be able to buy seeds adapted to their
environment by going through local distributors.

The next step will be to see how consumers respond to eastern
broccoli. The new varieties look similar to normal broccoli, says
Björkman.